As the world watched the Greek elections, I thought to myself, why should I care about a country whose population is around 11 million and is in debt for 350 billion?
Then it hit me, America is a country with a population of more than 360 million, with a national debt of nearly 16 trillion. All of a sudden I began to worry because if the world is waiting with baited breath to see the how a tiny country like Greece handles its election in midst of economic turmoil, I can only imagine what the world is thinking headed into the US Presidential election in November.
No longer are we just sweating over our baklava.
As we look at the European Union, it is a small microcosm of the United States in the areas of economics, attitude and politics.
For the Union, which is made up of 17 countries who use the Euro as its currency, we can safely predict that a collapse is imminent with every passing day. Here in the US, we have 50 states (or 57 according to President Obama) and all conduct commerce by the use of the dollar. Due to our debt to bondholders, the Fed, and other countries, we continue to devalue our own currency as well. The United States might soon face a similar fate, where our dollar might be more valued for use as toilet paper then as an exchange for goods or services.
For some Americans, it's sad to say their attitude and work ethic are just like the citizens of Greece. The idea that it's the Governments role and responsibility to provide housing, education, and healthcare is a belief which is becoming too common in the American political landscape. It is these same ideals which can be directly blamed for Greece’s economic collapse. This along with strong labor union protecting legislation and the over taxation of entrepreneurs and the wealthy. The same actions which caused the collapse of the Greek Government, can be heard daily in President Obama’s reelections speeches. These ideas are also being espoused by other members of the Democratic Party. Predictably, the uneducated masses, with whom they are blasting their rhetoric to, respond in cheers and praise.
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In one of the first interviews that newly elected President Samaras granted to Sky Television he said: “Those parties that believe in the euro and will honour our commitments should simultaneously agree to amendments to the memorandum [the bailout deal] so the Greek people will not be tortured by this agreement any more, which has brought such huge difficulties to every Greek family.”
He also said the new government had to be "decisive with regard to social cohesion" and bring "security" to the country.
It was not surprising that President Obama was quick to respond and congratulate President Samaras by saying, “We are in urgent need to form a government. The country may not remain even for an hour longer without a government. It is imperative in this crisis that we have a government to face our problems. I wish you every success in your efforts to form a government. We all are here to serve the Greek people.”
Of course President Obama would say this and he only hopes that the American people would say the same thing to him on November 4th if he wins his reelection. With Obama’s continuing promise of solving the problems brought on by his stimulus plan by the addition of more wasteful spending, in order to simply buy the votes of different social and economic demographic groups. It is no wonder why he praised the new Greek President. In fact, I would think President Obama should consider President Samaras for one of his famed ornaments on next years White House Christmas tree.
Just last month, France endorsed socialism in their election, and unfortunately, it looks like Greece might continue to promote it’s socialist agenda, despite its obvious failure. In fact, just like cattle headed to the slaughter, the people of Greece voted for a more extremist socialist agenda then what is already in place. They did this all while saying they are forming a new coalition government. This is not only incredibly frustrating, but plain idiotic.
The worst part, is instead of America watching and learning their lessons from the Greeks, it seems we are happily skipping down the same path, to the tune of Moving Forward.
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